Hymns: Gratitude

In this series, I explore some of the very modern worship songs from the perspective of someone who was introduced to worship songs back in 1980. Of course, even before then, I was acquainted with hymns. But in Ireland, many new songs were sung in the charismatic and Pentecostal movements in the late 1970s.

As time went on, though I never stopped liking secular pop and rock music, for church life, I started to prefer the older hymns. Modern Christian songs made me cringe. But why is that? The opposite occurs too. Some who sing modern songs despise the old hymns. But wouldn’t it be better if we all loved all Christian music? So, in recent years, I’ve started to get interested in all Christian music. I really need to make an effort to like the very modern hymns, but that’s precisely what I want to do.

Today’s song is Gratitude from 2022.

Lyrically, it’s quite unusual. It’s as if he’s trying to write something wonderful, but he can’t find the words. And we probably often feel like that when we pray or praise God. The great thing though is that when our heart is in the right place, the Holy Spirit himself translates our feelings and helps us to say what’s in our hearts to God, even when we can’t put it into words.

Roman 8:26
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.

People might differ on how this works, but the key point is that we reach out to God. The precise words don’t matter. God knows our hearts and our needs. Jesus touches on this too:

Matthew 6:7
“And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

But hymns are a great way to express our love to God when we can’t find the words ourselves. Some hymns are very poetic and rich in theological terms. But even the very simple ones can help us to express ourselves to God.

Here are some older hymns that express our gratitude.